India is a vast land full of different creeds, races, colours, religions, languages, culture, and many more. This land is the perfect example of diverse culture across the global platform. This country has loads of stories about the past, present as well as the upcoming future of the next generation.
But, as Indians, we all have grown up listening to the famous Hindi Kahani either from our parents or the grandparents. These stories were told to us when we were little, but they had deep morals embedded in them. These stories help us to distinguish clearly between the wrong and the right and guide us through all the darkness of our life. In short, we all owe our entire life to such lessons imparted to us by our beloved ones since our childhood.
One such book that consists of famous short stories or Hindi kahaniya that has a special place in all our lives since childhood is the popular Panchatantra. Before we start looking at the best and awesome short stories of all time, let us first take a quick look at the book named Panchatantra that has potential effects on our lives as well as our future lives.
About Panchatantra
The word “Panchatantra” means “five treatises” and is a famous book in India which has a unique collection of fables or short stories with morals meant for both kids as well as adults. These stories are short, crisp, and to the point.
These stories are loaded with real-life situations and come with a moral at the end to teach important life lessons to the reader. This is one of the reasons why this book happens to be an integral part of almost all households in this country. Even many schools prefer to use this book in their curriculum to teach such essential lessons through the interesting short kahaniya in Hindi.
According to history, this book is an ancient collection of the famous fables in Sanskrit that has been translated into Hindi and other local languages, including English for the people. The work dates back to as early as 200 BCE, which is maximum based on older oral traditions. Due to the huge popularity of these stories across the global platform, until now the book has been translated into more than 50 languages across the world. Therefore, here are the best short stories of this book that has been constant over the past few decades:
- Monkey and the crocodile
The story comes along with illustrations and beautiful pictures that tend to attract the little ones without any efforts. Since the story is mainly designed for the children, hence the common language is kept simple.
According to the story, there was a monkey that used to reside on a berry tree along the banks of a river. Also, a crocodile used to inhabit the place with his wife. One day the crocodile came and rested under the tree. Soon the crocodile and the monkey became friends. As the days passed, the monkey sent fruits over to the crocodile’s wife too. However, the wife turned greedy and asked the crocodile to get the heart of the monkey. Although the crocodile didn’t want to kill his friend, he was left with no choice as such.
So, finally, the crocodile brought the monkey to his house with the motive of killing him. When the monkey got to know the truth, he said that he left his heart on his tree back in the forest. The crocodile believed him and took him back to his tree, and the monkey finally escaped. Hence, the moral of the story states that one should always have the presence of their mind and choose their company carefully.
- Stork and the Crab
Once upon a time, there was a stork that used to feed on the fish of a pond. The stork grew older; he found it difficult to hunt the fishes around. This is why he lied to the inhabitants of the pond and said that the men are going to grow crops in this pond, and he can help to shift the fishes and other living beings to a bigger pond. The fishes trusted him, and he caught them and ate them one by one. One day a crab wished to go to the bigger pond, but as he understood the plan of the stork, he caught the neck of the same and killed the stork.
This story is amusing and thrilling to read or listen to but comes with a great moral. It teaches all of us to be active and use our minds at the right time and save ourselves in times of danger.
- Elephants and the mice
This story mainly revolves around the friendship of the mice and the elephants. Once there was a village inhabited by the mice through which the herd of elephants used to pass over every day. As many mice were getting killed, the king of mice requested them to change their route. The elephants respected their wishes and did the same. One day, when the elephants were in danger, the mice returned the favour by saving their lives.
Through this story, one learns the moral of being a kind friend to another person when he needs it. One needs to be always grateful for the help they receive from others and hence cherish it forever.
- The loyal mongoose
The story focuses mainly on how a little mongoose saved the baby of his master from the evil actions of a snake. But when the mother returned and saw the mongoose and the blood all over, she killed the mongoose in anger without even realising the truth completely. However, when she went and checked up on the baby, she realised her mistake and repented.
The story focuses on the loyalty and the bravery of the pet mongoose, who didn’t think once about risking his life to save the baby of his master. But on the other hand, it also shows how careless the mother was, and in anger, she killed the most loyal member of her family. Hence, moral teaches us that one should always think before they act.
These unique short kahaniya Hindi helps us to learn basic life lessons along with some interesting morals for our future. Every child and even the adult should read stories like these to learn the primary concepts of living life with truth, honesty, and dignity.